Let’s recap on what we have so far. First you have the idea. It’s a simple idea which that says “I want to live in the paradise known as Australia”. Then you decide on the basis of your application having looked at the various Visa options. Now you need to start the application process. The dreaded paperwork.
Before we go any further, let me tell you what you need to know immediately. The process is not cheap, you will need deep pockets. May as well get used to that now and learn to smile as you write out cheques.
• Shipping a container load of furniture roughly £6,000
• One way flight tickets for the average family roughly £2,000
• Medical fees roughly £300
• Bringing your dog, (and if you’ve got a dog, you’d better), roughly £3,000
• Fees to the Australian government roughly £1,000
• Your job assessment fee (if you need it) roughly £150
• Lots of admin fees, certifications, criminal record fee, postage £150
So far that’s about £12,600.
Prices quoted above are not meant to be an accurate guide because everyone’s costs will differ quite substantially. I am merely trying to prepare you for the expense. I am also trying to make it clear that the expense of a MARA approved migration expert is just a small percentage of the overall costs. Because it comes first in the decision and cheque writing process, you may be tempted to try and do it yourself. I say don’t.
• The cost of a MARA Migration Expert is somewhere between £1,000 and £1,500.
By the time you get to the end of this process you will be numb from writing out cheques, you will be passed caring. What I am suggesting is to start this process from a position of numbness and carry on from there.
Choosing Your MARA Migration Expert
This is how I think it works. The migration experts are registered with the Migration Agents Registration Authority and must adhere to a strict code of professional conduct. They do not work for the Australian government, they get paid direct by you as their customer.
But, the Australian government do not want to have to wade through thousands and thousands of poor quality applications. So they expect these agents to filter out applications that do not meet the standard required.
So, for a MARA registered migration expert to put forward your case, they have to believe your application will succeed. Because if they put through too many failures, I believe they will lose their licence. So these agents won’t just take you on to earn a fee, they will only take you on if they think you have a good chance. On that basis I believe it is best to use these people. Most will do a preliminary assessment for a small fee. I think it’s the way to go.
We made a mistake when we selected our agent. We were given the name of someone in Australia who was supposed to be very good. So we contacted her from the UK and asked if she would represent us. To cut a long story down to a medium story, things moved slowly.
She would ask for more information which we would send. But she wouldn’t respond so we would chase. She would make various excuses and apologies and promises to get on our case “ next week”. Before we knew it, three months had passed and she still hadn’t actually agreed to represent us, let alone get the application underway.
We had seen this coming and my wife and I had agreed that if we did hit the three-month stage without any concrete action we would ditch her. We did and we did. We didn’t write to her formerly to tell her, we just stopped communicating. She never chased us or contact us again either. It was a silent mutual ditching.
Why? Two reasons.
First: Let me explain what I believe is inherent in many Australians. They hate to say no. They would much rather say “yes I’ll do it next week,” and then just not do it. I think most Australian people understand that system, so when someone lets them down, they just immediately go and find someone else to do it. Us British folk tend to leave it an extra week and then chase them up if nothing has happened.
Because the Australian still doesn’t want to say no, they again say they will do it next week, but don’t. They hope that this time you’ll get the hint. Since living here, I have learned to take that hint.
I should have picked up on it quicker. If you look through the classified ads for tradies, lots of them do say as their unique selling point “We actually turn up!” – and I used to think “ why, who wouldn’t?”. The answer is lots of them.
Second: She just didn’t believe in our application. When we realised that, it was a shattering blow to our confidence. Here was an expert who didn’t even think our application was worth starting. Living in Australia now seemed further away than ever.
But we didn’t give up. We looked for a new migration expert based in the UK which, on reflection, is much better than trying to deal with someone 11,000 miles away and on a completely different time zone. Our new migration expert did believe in us and all of a sudden things were moving much faster.
She did a great job. Well, we’re here!
If you want to know more, read Moving to Australia Part 4
For a full chronological list and brief description of all the posts in this series about how I moved to Australia, please visit my page How to Move to Australia.
Related posts:
- Moving to Australia – Part Four
- Moving to Australia – Part Six
- Moving to Australia – Part Five
- Moving to Australia – Part Seven
- Moving to Australia – Part Eight
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I love your blogsite, nice fresh and informative.
How are you enjoying life in OZ? We are Kiwi’s living in OZ, we have lived in OZ twice. When we went back to NZ we couldn’t wait to come back and now that we are here again there is no way we are going anywhere else.
It is amazing the skills and qualities that are drawn out of you when you move country, or even states for that matter. I believe it is easier if you have children because it forces you to meet new people and get out there and join groups. I know this because when we moved here the first time our children were 18 months and 6 weeks old and we didn’t know anyone, we had never been to OZ and were totally lost so to speak but having young children was what kept me sane. I had to get out there and meet people.
When we moved back to OZ our children were 13 and 11, and I noticed that because the kids were older it was harder to meet new people like it was when they were younger.
Anyway I can share lots of experiences about moving to OZ.
Talk again soon.
Vicki
@Rodney & Vicki Williams
Hi Vicki
Thanks for your comments. I love it here in Oz, my life is so different. I thought it’d be good here but it’s way better than that. I’m not surprised you came back.
Having children the right age does help you to get to know people. Our five year old daughter is always finding us new friends. But there are so many more ways of meeting people, Australia has lots of community events.
Even having a dog will get friends, because of the dog parks. Each year they have a dogs party at Christmas! Wine and biscuits for humans. Yes, it’s great here.
Speak later
Bob
You don’t need a migration agent!
We had 2, one we appointed ourselves though a “live in Australia” show in London. She seemed a nice woman, pleasant. A year, and $1000 later, she did b*gger all for us. We eventually complained to the MARA, and about another year later we got a letter off them saying she’d had a bit of a talking to. No refund, no apology, no nothing.
The second was appointed by a company I’d got a job with – just as useless, no clue about how to bring my step-daughter over.
We eventually went solo, did our temporary visa ourselves, then our permanent residency papers. They’re not that hard, just lots, and lots of them. Double check all the paperwork required, and just take your time filling it all in. Took time, but it’s not like trying to generate a legal document, and at least we had control over our own destiny. (Oh, and they did give us the visa, after asking for more paperwork first!)
Well, you are right, you don’t need a migration agent. Certainly, if you are confident enough to fill in all the paperwork, then you can do it yourself. But in some ways I think it does depend on your situation.
If you have a definite skill that Australia definitely wants and you are the right age, then you may be better doing it yourself. But if you are a borderline case, as we were, then it may be worthwhile using an agent.
After one false start, which actually un-nerved us because the migration agent didn’t really seem to think we would get in, we were lucky to find a really good migration agent. We were very happy with the work she did. On the other hand, it sounds like you were very unlucky.
But your story is good encouragement for all those fancy going it alone. See, it’s not that hard.
I’m curious as to which agent you used. We’ve looked into it with one agent and been quoted around £2,800- somewhat more than it was back when you went through the process- but am wary to just pay that given these stories of agents doing nothing for the money.
Hi Ben
You can read about the agent I used over at my page about migration agents. There is also a guide to costs on that page.
Last I heard, the person we used was no longer there, but I will call the company next week to see if they have a replacement and find out about their current services. If I get anywhere, I’ll update here.